Anybody using plastic Woodduck boxes that you buy? I'd like to try a few out but all of them I have seen have been around 60 bucks. They will be in Illinois and in the shade I have heard they will actually heat up the eggs to the point of no return in warmer climates. Also where are you guys getting your post? I used a 8 foot T post on 3 of mine but that still only leaves them 6 foot off the ground. The person who use to put them out has 12 foot poles on his. The kind they use on road signs, I dont have awhole lotta money I just spent 80bucks on Tpost and mounting hardware.

I live in East-central Illinois and I would say to build them out of wood. They won't last as long but imo you'll have better luck getting a "wood" duck to use them with success. They aren't called plastic ducks are they? They nest in hollow trees so it just seems like a hollow log with wooden caps on the ends and the right sized hole would work the very best. I cut up hollow trees all the time and never thought of making wood duck nest boxes out of them.I'm going to have to do that now...

As for as post go, I just weld together to 8' t-post (metal fence post). I then weld a chain link at the very top for my hardware to slide into. They are not but about 6 ft above the water but the wood ducks still use them.

They are a little flemsy with the weight of a box on them. I was skeptical about that, but a tree sways in the wind as well.

I could make it more sturdy if I welded 4 post together (doubling the thickness), but it might be a little harder driving them into the ground. :)